The Pieces Of Revenge
by xT-Zealot
Summary: Twice he had been free. Twice he had been imprisoned. This time, however, Malchior wasn't going to let his second jailer go unpunished. He was going to make Raven pay. Rorek had escaped his wrath, but Raven will not. (BBRae)
1. Prologue: The Search For A Pawn

**Author's Note: **Hello people! And welcome to me new ficcy! Raven had such a heartbreak in Spellbound, so I'm going to be writing this fic that's centered around her! Even though Cyborg is my favorite character in Teen Titans, Raven to me is the most...interesting of the Titans to watch an episode about her if you know what I mean. And yeah, there is going to be a Beastboy/Raven coupling...and I think this fic is going to become my greatest work. I'm using every single bit of my writing talent to write this fic. So anyway, I'm working hard on this fic, so I hope you enjoy this a lot as I am writing it!

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With the stars and the moon being the only natural light, it was a sign of a normal night. Only few artificial lights in Jump City were on, whether from night shifts, headlights from a car or two that still drove down the streets, or even from a nightlight in the rooms of toddlers.

It was the same at Titans Tower.

There was a discarded controller on the floor of a room. A large TV screen was on, the only thing that produced light in the room. The words "GAME OVER" flashed on the screen in big bold letters, bathing the room with light, including the green changeling. Beastboy muttered something about tofu in his sleep, a trail of drool running down from his mouth and onto the pillow.

In another room, the only lights came from the small flickers of light from a recharger. Cyborg lied nearby, a wire being attached to him from the machine as he "slept".

There was no light in Starfire's room. However, the alien girl had a slightly different method of sleeping. Instead of her head on the pillow, it was her feet. Her head, that was supposed to be on the pillow, was hanging over the end of the bed, her long red hair spraying across the floor of her room.

The fourth room was pitched in darkness. Robin's head rested on the nice soft pillow of his bed, not hanging over the edge of the bed.

Even the dark Titan known as Raven slept peacefully, the blanket pulled around her slim body. Darkness filled the room, though it wasn't a surprise since Raven's room never gets that much light, even during the day. The said darkness easily hid the many stacks of books, some with their pages containing spells or just stories of fantasy and horror. With the books, artifacts such as statues were concealed by the shadows, a mirror, and other simple things like a closet.

But there was something else hidden by the shadows. A few feet away from where Raven slept in a dreamless slumber, there was a chest. There didn't seem to be anything complicated about the chest, it was just an ordinary chest with an equally ordinary lock.

Still, there was something radiating from the chest. It wasn't from the wooden carved chest itself; it was more like coming off of something from within.

Despite how much space the chest had within, it only continued one item: a book. Like the chest, there wasn't much of a difference between this book and any other book. Within the white covering, the book contained many pages that were held together by simple binding. To anyone that looked at it, they would've thought of it was another book, its pages telling a tale of fantasy.

Unless they could feel that presence that radiated from within the book. That cold presence...that feeling of emptiness, of evil. Rage, sorrow, pain, it was like the many words on the pages were written with poison instead of ink, containing all the elements of darkness...of evil.

Twice this evil had been defeated, being locked away in this ordinary looking book. Before it had been locked away the first time, this evil had roamed free, free to bring chaos and darkness in its wake, spreading terror into the hearts of innocence. Everyone knew this evil, everyone feared it.

Everyone but one.

In the end, that one was who had locked away the evil. That one was an ordinary wizard, one who had dared to combat this evil with his spells. The evil had spells of its own, spells that were even more powerful then that of the ones that the wizard wielded. The wizard was no match.

Until he used a curse. One curse, a powerful curse. And that one curse was enough to bring an end to the evil.

But not for good.

Years had passed. Years that the evil had spent lying dormant in the pages that were its prison. Slowly, many have forgotten this evil, forgotten that it even existed. Even the mighty wizard that defeated it disappeared within the folds of time. The two became tales, tales that had once been reality.

The evil waited, building up its powers by reading, hoping that it would find a spell that was powerful enough to free it from its prison. At first, it seemed like the prison would hold the evil forever.

Until an opportunity came. It was an opportunity that it had been waiting for for years. Finally...the evil found its chance.

The opportunity took the form of a girl. She was powerful, able to wield spells of her own. She was the opportunity.

The evil deceived the girl by striking where she hurt the most: her heart. It gave her lies, a false sense of companionship...of love. Teaching her a powerful spell, one that she used to free it, the evil lived once again.

However, it wasn't meant to be for long.

The girl was powerful, but not nearly as powerful as the wizard had been. She had allies, something that the wizard didn't have. But even with those allies, the evil easily overpowered them. Victory had been secured...or so it had seemed.

Until the girl used a powerful curse, the same curse that the wizard had used. And just like that, victory and freedom were suddenly snatched away from the evil. It was once again sealed by the pages that had been its prison for years, where it was hoped that the evil would be imprisoned for several more years that were to come, when he would once again be forgotten.

Twice the evil had roamed free. Twice it had been imprisoned.

This time, however, Malchior was not going to allow his second jailer to go unpunished. Rorek had escaped his wrath, but Raven will not.

Malchior had been free, free to engulf his inferiors with his shadow, had been free to roar, to have everyone understand that he was the most powerful, that anyone who challenged him would be consumed by his power.

But he couldn't. It was because of her, because of Raven. She will pay for what she stole from him. He was going to make her suffer.

He wasn't going to be able to do that while in his prison. Malchior needed to be freed. He needed another pawn to deceive.

Fortunately, he knew a way.

Despite how powerful Raven had been, Rorek had been stronger. His magic was what weakened Malchior so that the book would successfully imprison him. Raven's magic had been weaker, weak enough so that she wasn't able to wield the curse as successfully, with as much power, as Rorek had.

Malchior had probed through his prison, hoping that he could find a weak spot. He had found it.

The curse was strong, but Raven's powers had been weak. And because of that, his prison hadn't been as strongly reinforced as it had been when Rorek imprisoned him.

Through that weak spot, Malchior had sent slivers of his power through it. Raven was lost in slumber, which allowed these slivers of power to go undetected by the Titan. And with that done, Malchior waited. All he could do now was hope that someone would be attracted by these slivers and decide to find the source.

Raven found him, and he was sure that another one of these billions of inferiors would be a potential pawn.

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**Author's Note:** For some reason, I seem to be a lot more detailed when I write a fic like this one o.O shrugs Anyway, here's the prologue to a great fic! And the chapters that will make this great will be here soon! Just hope I get a lot of reviews for it.


	2. Chapter 1: The Pawn

**Author's Note: **Hm...truthfully I thought Pixie wouldn't be able to get her chapter up for Nightmare Moon until like three weeks later. Oh well, I decided to get this chapter up before I started my chapter for Nightmare Moon. So with that, enjoy people!

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The moon and stars had no place in the sky as night turned to day. The sun replaced them and became the brightest source of light. Even with the darkness having been turned into light, the artificial light from the homes and other buildings in Jump City stayed off, the occupants wanting to use sunlight to light their rooms and offices. Or just to lower their electric bills.

The populace of Jump City were pulled out of their dreams, or nightmares, to face every day life. People went to their jobs. Came home from night shifts, went to school, stayed home sick, or were just making their morning meal known as breakfast.

Speaking of breakfast.

"We aren't having any of that tofu stuff!" Cyborg objected. "We're going to have real eggs and waffles! I'm cooking!"

"Dude, I'm cooking!" Beastboy shouted. "I called it! And besides, you cooked last time!"

As the hybrid and changeling quarreled, Starfire watched the match. The alien girl stood on her knees on the couch, looking over the couch to watch the verbal match that was taking place. Robin was nowhere in the room, having disappeared to the weight room to do his morning exercises. Raven had taken a seat on the couch, a new horror novel opened in front of her as she read.

_You'd think that Beastboy would settle making his own breakfast and Cyborg would make breakfast for the rest of us,_ Raven thought to herself. But of course, the two Titans seemed incapable of having a compromise without a long and, to Raven, aggravating conversation. During one of their arguments, Raven had questioned if they could come to an agreement without creating a battle. Here replay was as followed:

"Where's the fun in that?" they had asked.

Raven chose not to comment in the future, knowing that it wouldn't bring the argument to an end.

"Mortal Kombat!" Beastboy suddenly suggested. "Two out of three! Winner makes breakfast!"

"Deal!" replied Cyborg.

Starfire suddenly "eeped" and ducked just before the two Titans jumped over the couch and over her head. Scrambling for a controller, the changeling and hybrid took a seat on the couch.

And soon a battle between Jax and Night Wolf began on the TV screen. In the end, Night Wolf ended up winning the two rounds and the chosen breakfast had to deal with tofu.

Raven rolled her eyes, gaze not leaving her horror book. _Men._

This was how the day always started with the Teen Titans.

But their days would sometimes hold many surprises. And unknown to Raven, today was going to be the start of a series of dark events.

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It had been exactly three weeks since he had sensed it, sensed that sliver of power. Almost immediately, his curiosity had been sparked, and his greed caused him to crave to find where this sliver was coming from. He had been some distance away, and his craving intensified when he realized that whatever the source was, it was powerful enough that he had been able to track it down from miles and miles away.

He wanted to control this power, make it his.

Unfortunately, he had already discovered an obstacle when he was traveling.

Even with the few trees and bushes that were obscuring his vision, Krasz was still able to see the city. From what he heard, this place was called Jump City.

Krasz, however, wasn't interested in the city. His hooded ice blue eyes stared past the tall buildings and looked towards the large body of water in the center of the city where one single island was. One structure had been built on the island...a structure that was shaped like a T.

That was where that power was coming from. And that was also where the obstacle was.

With the name of the city, Krasz also heard about five individuals that were the protectors of Jump City. Unfortunately, Krasz's knowledge ended at the names of these protectors, the Teen Titans. He didn't know what powers each one of them had, so he didn't know how much of a threat they were.

But he didn't need to beat them, not just yet. All he needed to do was distract them. They didn't need to be distracted long, just long enough so that he could get into the tower and find the source of that power.

A light breeze blew Krasz's black cloak and robes. Raising his hands, he grabbed the hood of his cloak before pulling it down. Despite the sudden disappearance of the clothing, the breeze didn't blow his hair for he didn't have any. Instead, his bald head had been tattooed with pictures of different creatures.

No one has seen anything like these creatures. One of the tattoos was that of a large bird with long sharp talons. Like the other creatures, the bird had blood red eyes. Its long beak was opened in a silent screech, small yet very sharp teeth filling the dark cavern. Instead of feathers, the bird's body was covered in brown fur. However, the wings were leather with sharp claws at the tips. And finally, the bird had two long serpent-like tails.

The other tattoos were pictures of other creatures, many looking as deadly as the bird, but not all birds. One his forehead, there was a tattoo of a golem made of bones.

The sound of chirping caused Krasz to turn his head and look up at the branches of a tree. A blue jay was perched on one of the branches, chirping as it hopped around, searching for food or just materials to build its nest with.

Krasz raised his hand at the bird. "Anuba Sinia Praesto!"

The bird's chirping suddenly turned into a shrill cry. It dropped from the branch and fell onto the ground where it lay. The bird twitched while continuing to shriek.

The blue jay's blue feathers suddenly morphed into brown fur, while its wings were stripped of feathers and its pink skin formed into black leather while claws grew at the tips. Its talons grew long and sharp while its beak grew longer and teeth sprouted. Two long serpent-like tails protruded from the end of the bird, which now waved wildly in the air. Finally, its small beady eyes became larger and were blood red.

The bird that had once been a blue jay had grown larger during its transformation. When it stopped twitching, the bird of prey stood to its full height, ten feet tall. Its wings spread wide and the bird shrieked. But instead of fear and pain, the shriek was that of hunger and bloodlust. The bird was hungry.

And there was plenty of food in Jump City.

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Having gotten her daily pot of herbal tea filled, Raven entered the dark confines of her room, placing said tea pot on top of her dresser. Raven's hand took a cup...but then let go. The hand dropped to her side and her gaze was on the cup. Though her eyes were staring down at it, the Titan looked as if she was staring through it.

She then sighed, her appearance suddenly seeming to change and betraying her age. Raven had always been strong, both physically and mentally. But in that instant, she became small and frail. Her eyes also seemed to speak of some kind of mental weight that had been placed on it, weakening her mentally.

A need to sit down suddenly caused Raven to take a seat on her bed. Placing her elbows on her knees, Raven's face disappeared behind her pale hands.

By this time, Raven would've already drank some herbal tea and would've now been hovering a few feet in the air as she meditated. But now, she just didn't want to. Her strength and will felt like it had been sapped from her. All she wanted to do now was just sit. For a few minutes, that's what she did; sit with her face buried in her hands. She then took a deep breath, her hands dropping away as she turned her head.

To look at that chest.

Raven felt a pang in her heart as she looked at the chest, remembering that book she had placed into it. She wanted to make sure that Malchior wouldn't be freed for another thousand years. But also...

Raven sighed, turning her head away and looking down at the floor, her shoulders sagging.

But also so Malchior couldn't break another person's heart.

Raven's hands closed into fists as her eyes closed.

The one time, the one single time that she dropped those walls that she built around her heart...for him, for Malchior. And because of that, Malchior struck at her now unguarded heart. And he broke it.

The Titan had thought that she had found someone that could understand her, understand that she wasn't creepy, just different. She had thought that she found someone to talk to, and find that he was just like her. Bust most importantly, she had thought that she found someone that she could love.

Instead, she had been manipulated, molded into a pawn. She had just been a tool that Malchior needed to be freed from his prison. She was a tool that was discarded when it was no longer useful, where it would simply rust.

Her heart had shattered, and now she could only pick up the pieces and slowly start to rebuild the walls around it. It would take a while to put her heart back together and even longer before she could fully trust someone again.

The heart was such a fragile thing, and even love can break it. The deep companionship, the love, that Raven had felt had been so beautiful, the greatest thing that she had ever felt. But then it had been torn away from her, her heart breaking when she had been assaulted with betrayal and the thoughts that told her that she had only been a pawn that Malchior moved across a chessboard, not allowing her to see that she was helping the black king instead of the white king. She just didn't see the truth.

Raven's eyes started to sting as tears began to form behind her closed lids.

And the tears are what brought a sudden sense of anger.

She was disgusted with Malchior, but was also disgusted with herself. Malchior was back in his prison, he was part of the past now. Raven mentally berated herself. She had to move on, top stop dwelling in the past. She needed to get over what happened with Malchior and get on with her life so that she can concentrated on more important things.

Like find out what the danger in Jump City is that's causing the alarm to go off.

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Krasz hid a grin as he saw two vehicles and a dot flying overhead leave the tower. He was sure that the one dot was one of the Titans, and the two vehicles held the three others.

He still had to be careful though, he wasn't completely sure that there is another Teen Titan guarding the tower. If there wasn't there was still a chance of some other kind of security that he might have to worry about. However, he was sure that he would get what he needed.

His _distractions _should be able to give him all the time he needed to search.

There was a way that the Titans, or any other hero or heroine, used to locate trouble. And that is to go where everyone else was running from. Today was no exception. The location of the trouble was a bit...different today though. Instead of a bank or a jail, the trouble resided in a butcher shop.

Using a newly repaired R-Cycle to help him get to the destination faster, Robin watched as the panic crowd ran from the shop while his detective mind kicked in. What villain would be attracted to a butcher shop?

Once a video rental store and an electronic store had been the cause of troubles. But Control Freak and Overload had the abilities to create the situations that got the Titans' attention. So what criminal could cause mayhem in a butcher shop? Some kind of insane butcher? Maybe he can somehow control meat?

_Or maybe whoever the guy is, he's just hungry,_ Robin suddenly thought.

It wouldn't be surprising, considering what kind of villains they had to deal with. Mumbo, Control Freak, and even Mad Mod could be counted. Plasmus feeds off of toxic wastes after all. So how far fetched could it be that the criminal just wants something to eat?

Robin stepped on the brakes, causing his R-Cycle to stop in front of the butcher shop. Starfire floated down next to him while he hopped off of his cycle. The T-Car also came to a stop and the doors opened so that Cyborg, Beastboy, and Raven could step out and asses the situation, like Robin was already doing.

The windows of the butcher shop had been shattered, which explained the glass that was on the sidewalk and street. What caught their attention, however, were the strips of meat and the bones that were on the floor. The white walls had some blood splattered onto them.

Robin suddenly tensed when he saw something move in the shop. "Titans, get ready."

Just after he said it, something appeared from behind the counter and moved towards the shattered windows.

The leader of the Titans immediately thought that the creature was some kind of bat when he saw that it was walking on its elbows. But when he saw the long toothed beak and the sharp talons, he wasn't sure what it was. It looked like a cross between a bat and a bird.

The creature came onto the sidewalk, its talons and its two serpent-like tails knocking away some pieces of glass. It didn't look that big...until it stood up. Just like that, the bird had somehow grown from five feet to a towering ten feet in height.

Robin and the other Titans stood, surprised and shocked by the appearance of the bird while it stared at them with its blood red eyes, its tail waving behind him. And the Titans couldn't help but wince when the bird opened its beak and let out a loud screech that attacked their ears.

Surprisingly, two other shrieks joined the one.

More glass slide on the sidewalk as two more of the birds came out of the butcher shop. Shrieks suddenly sounded from above that caused the Titans to look up, just in time to see five more of these creatures drop down from the sky. They circled around the now surrounded teens, clicking their beaks while their tails whipped behind them as they slowly approached, wanting to feed.

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Krasz had been right about the security in the tower. Fortunately, technology couldn't compare to the power of magic.

The many hallways in the tower weren't a problem. That sliver of magic was guiding him through the long hallways that he was able to follow easily. Compared to when he followed it for miles and miles, this was easy.

Ten minutes passed and Krasz now stood in front of a door to a room. The sliver of power disappeared behind it and into the room. It only took Krasz a second to realize that what he was looking for was behind the door. There wasn't a visible lock or any kind of handle on the door.

Krasz only raised his hand the door suddenly fell forward and slammed down onto the floor of the room with a loud thud, clearing Krasz's path so that he could walk into the room.

He blinked, now seeing the interior of the room. There wasn't much light in the room, which caused Krasz to almost miss the bed and the dresser to indicate that this room belonged to one of the Titans. Knowing that they fought for justice, Krasz was a little surprised when he saw the...disturbing artifacts in the room. Even that mirror he saw radiated something dark.

But the mirror wasn't what he was concerned about. It was the chest at the other end of the room.

Krasz couldn't help but grin icily as he walked towards it. Finally, he found what he had been searching for for three weeks now. Nothing would stop him now, not even the lock on the chest which was suddenly torn of by an invisible force. The chest flew open so fast that the top was torn off its hinges. Excitement and a feeling of accomplishment swept through Krasz as he looked into the chest to retrieve his prize.

A book.

The grin faltered for a moment, but stayed on Krasz's face. It must be some kind of spell book. He could learn powerful spells from the book and maybe become even more powerful then he already was. Not able to wait, Krasz pulled the book out from the chest and opened it, wanting to see what was in the contents of the book.

This time, the grin completely disappeared from Krasz's face. The pages didn't hold spells, only words from a fantasy novel.

"A book," he growled, rage quickly consuming him. "All this work, all of it for just a damn book!" He slammed the book closed, raising it above his head as he prepared to throw it.

"But I am not a book."

Krasz suddenly froze, the book still raised over his head. Slowly, he lowered the book and held it in front of him.

The book suddenly opened in his hands. Pages turned on their own, and Krasz could only stare with wide eyes.

The pages stopped turning. There was the face of a man on a torn page, though his mouth wasn't visible because of the tear.

"I am a man."

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**Author's Note:** Dun dun dun! Well, sorry to have the chapter stop there but oh well! Now you can all suffer while waiting for the next chapter! Muwahahaha!!! ............Just kidding o.O


	3. Chapter 2: Deception

**Author's Note: **Aaaahhh, winter break. It's the sanctuary from school, where video games become part of your life. Anyway, felt like taking a break to finally type up this chapter. Well, lets get this done so that I can go back to my video games! Muwahahahaha!

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When Raven saw the first of these birds, she knew what they were. She had read about them. They were, obviously, large and dangerous birds of prey called leatherwings, named after their wings. Though not as much of a threat as dragons, they had been one of the great terrors of the skies.

But they were also extinct.

_They sure don't look extinct, _Raven thought to herself while she raised a hand and created a wall of blackness in front of her.

The leatherwing that chose her as its prey slammed into the shield. Its talons clawed at the shield and its serpent tails whipped against it in an attempt to break through it, which ended in failure. Letting out a cry of frustration, the leatherwing soared high into the sky, preparing to do another dive bomb.

The leatherwings were as fast and as agile on the ground as they are in the skies, which Robin and Cyborg were figuring out as they fought three of the leatherwings. They used the claws on the tips of their wings to help them launch forward and move quickly on the ground. Cyborg pointed his sonic cannon at one of the birds and fired a blast of sonic energy. The leatherwings used its claws to push itself up into the air, causing Cyborg's attack to blast a hole into the road.

Starfire zipped through the air, two leatherwings flying after her, dodging the starbolts that were being thrown at them. Beastboy had morphed into a T-Rex, hoping that his large size would help him in this battle. That ended up being a bad decision as the two leatherwings swooped and sunk their sharp talons into his hide and took off again before he had a chance to strike back. Seeing the error, the changeling morphed into a pterodactyl and took off into the air, the leatherwings immediately flying after him.

Beastboy went straight up, looking back to make sure the birds were following suite. They were, and quickly gaining. Beastboy waited until they got closer…closer…almost…

And suddenly he morphed into a whale and dropped.

The leatherwings shrieked as they saw the huge mass coming towards them. They tried to get out of the way, but they weren't able to fly past the green whale. There was a really loud thud as Beastboy fell back onto the road, crushing the two leatherwings so that they would never get up again.

Still in the air, Starfire flew to the side, dodging the talons of the leatherwing as it flew past her. Charging a starbolt, she threw it at the retreating bird. It screeched in pain and it plummeted towards the ground, smoke trailing from its back where the starbolt hit.

Starfire didn't have a chance to feel victorious as the second leatherwing flew behind her. Starfire cried out as one of its tails struck her. The second tail came forward and wrapped around Starfire, pinning her arms to her sides. The alien girl gritted her teeth and struggled as the tail tightened around her while the first tail came and bound her legs, the leatherwing wanting to subdue her. It let out a cry of victory as it opened its toothed beak, intending to feast.

And died when Starfire blasted its face by launching starbolts from her eyes.

On the ground, Cyborg was lying on his back, the leatherwing pinning him to the ground. But like Starfire, the hybrid had his own surprise. Raising his foot, he placed it against the bird's stomach. A sonic blast launched from his foot and blasted the leatherwing back. The bird landed several feet away, twitched, and no longer moved.

By then, Cyborg's arm formed into his sonic cannon again and he pointed it at a second leatherwing that was diving towards him and fired. The bird tried to pull out of its dive, but it proved to be futile. The sonic blast struck the leatherwing in the chest. It shrieked and spun in the air from the attack. Bones snapped as the leatherwing slammed into a building. Falling to the ground, the creature quickly died.

The leatherwings' numbers were quickly dwindling down. Behind Cyborg, a leatherwing fell from the sky. The problem with this one was that it was nothing more then ice, thanks to Robin's freeze disc. The creature fell onto the pavement and shattered into little tiny pieces. Another leatherwing crashed and shattered right next to where the first had met the same fate.

There was only one left.

The leatherwing screeched, clawing and whipping at Raven's dark barrier. The Titan's eyes glowed white, and the barrier suddenly pushed outwards at the leatherwing. Surprised, the bird tried to push back against the barrier. Its talons slid against the barrier as its tails continued to whip at it.

Unfortunately, the leatherwing was pressed to the ground while the shield continued to push forward. The pressure increased as the bird continued to shriek. Its shrieks were suddenly cut off as bones snapped. The leatherwing no longer moved.

"Dude, what were those things?!" Beastboy suddenly spoke, once he was sure that there were no more of the birds.

"They were very vicious," noted Starfire. The alien girl landed on the ground and looked at the fallen leatherwings. "They remind me of the senflax on Drek'thar."

Raven wondered if the leatherwings were Starfire's senflax. However, she dismissed it. The Titan had seen pictures of the leatherwings in her books. The creatures that they had defeated looked exactly like those pictures.

But how could that be? The leatherwings no longer existed. The only way that they could be back…

Raven shuddered at the thought.

If someone had summoned them, it was a powerful summoner that had allowed the leatherwings to live again. And someone with that much power…

That could be the only answer. Raven had felt small traces of magic being used, but they had been so small that she just thought she had been sensing things that weren't there. Thoughts of Malchior and how he almost won because of her didn't allow any other thoughts to grab her attention.

"Hey Rae, are you okay?"

Raven blinked. She had been staring at the ground the whole time, lost in thought. Being pulled out of her thoughts, Raven looked up at a familiar green face.

"I'm fine," she replied. "Just thinking about how the leatherwings came back."

"Leatherwings?"

Raven's eyes widened slightly as she mentally cursed. How could she have let that slip?

Beastboy easily caught her slip. "Is that what these things are? Do you know what's going on?"

"Only an idea," replied Raven. She looked at the scattered bodies of the leatherwings. "I've read about these creatures, but they're extinct."

Before Beastboy could press, Raven suddenly asked, "Where are all the others?"

"Guess you were spacing out a lot more then I thought," said Beastboy. "They had split up to see if there are anymore…leatherwigs?"

"Leatherwings," corrected Raven, a small trace of amusement in her voice. "And we should probably look to see if there are any left." Not waiting an acknowledgement, Raven hovered into the air.

She did appreciate Beastboy's company, she really did. After her Malchior incident and his werewolf incident, the two had gotten closer. But right now, Raven wanted to be alone so she could think.

She needed to find out what's going on.

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"And who are you exactly?"

When Krasz had gotten the book, he had been quick to leave the tower. The leatherwings were fearsome birds, perfect for distracting the Titans. But, like before, he wasn't sure about what powers they wielded. For all he knew, the Titans had been coming back to their tower when he walked out the door. With the help of his summoning powers, Krasz had returned to the first that had come to shelter him.

And now he wanted answers.

"My name is of no importance," replied the face that had joined the words within the pages of the book. "But if you want to name me, call me Malchior. Before I had been sealed into this book, I had been the servant of the great Rorek."

It was a lie of course, and Malchior did hate the idea of calling his first jailer the great Rorek, but things had to be sacrificed if he wanted freedom.

The summoner, Krasz, was only acting on greed. Malchior had sensed Krasz's hunger for power, and that was to be Malchior's tool. Compassion wasn't going to get himself out this time, greed was. Krasz wasn't like Raven.

Rage suddenly swelled up inside of Malchior at the thought of the Titan. The stupid girl. Before he could start his conquest, he was going to have to take her out of the picture. He wasn't going to kill her right away, however, oh no. A quick death will not settle that hunger for revenge inside of him. He was going to make Raven suffer.

But until then…

"A servant of Rorek?"

Malchior was forced out of his thoughts to answer Krasz. "Of course. Surely you must've heard of him."

"No, I can't say that I have."

And that was what Malchior hoped. Practically no one know about that little story of him and Rorek. With their tale having been lost in time, very few even knew the story. Raven was one of them…

Fortunately, Krasz wasn't.

With his weakened prison, Malchior managed to change the tale within this book entirely. No simple name changing this time. Though Krasz's didn't seem like someone patient enough to sit down and read the tale when he could simply be told about it, Malchior was cautious. He wasn't going to be stuck within this book for another thousand of years.

"Then I must endow with knowledge of Rorek," said Malchior. "Him, and the knowledge of spells to increase your power."

As if having bait dangling from a hook, Krasz's greed lunged for it. "Increase my power?"

"Of course. The servant can't be more powerful then the master after all."

"I guess that's true."

Good, Malchior had him now. "However…"

Immediately, Krasz looked down at Malchior. "What is it?"

"There is a problem that we may have to worry about. I had been freed from this book not too long ago to give another, like you, knowledge. Unfortunately, a powerful spellcaster had managed to seal me back into the book. We must get rid of her."

Krasz raised an eyebrow. "Her?"

"Yes. And once she is gone, nothing will be able to stand against you."

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Despite having searched through the whole city, there were no signs of the vicious birds known as leatherwings. That only meant two things; there were no more, or they were very good at hiding.

Robin had decided that the leatherwings that they had defeated were the only ones that had plagued Jump City. Though the Titans were a bit unsure about leaving the city until they had checked it ten times, they had agreed. Raven, on the other hand, was relieved to about going back to the tower. She needed answers to the several questions that were plaguing her mind.

One was the leatherwings. As said before, they were extinct. Like Malchior and Rorek, they were also lost within the folds of time. The only ones that would've even heard of them would be ones that study the magical arts, like Raven.

Summoners were on the top of Raven's list of what caused the leatherwings to return. During the battle, Raven had felt traces of magic that came from the monstrosities. It was strange because leatherwings do not possess magic. The only things that the leatherwings rely on were their teeth and talons to bring down their prey. They couldn't even use a fraction of magic.

Another fact was something else that Raven had sensed in the leatherwings. The bloodlust had been obvious, but she had felt something underneath that hunger for blood. She had sensed peace.

But that peace had been overwhelmed with the bloodlust. The very spirit of the creature that had become the leatherwing had been twisted and transformed. Putting all the evidence together, it was painfully obvious that a summoner was involved. Raven may be using telepathy, but she had read about the other branches of magic and knew the different signs of the different types of magic.

This was going to be needing a lot of studying and reading.

That was no problem though. How many hours would Raven spend reading? The only time she wouldn't be reading would be if she was eating, sleeping, meditating, or fighting villains. She would just get a book, lock herself in her room, and then-

Her room!

Raven's feet stopped moving and the Titan stared at the door of her room…which was on the floor.

What had happened!? And, more importantly, who would dare go into her room!?

Raven's eyes narrowed and they even glowed as they stared down at her door. Someone had been in her room, nobody goes into her room. As Raven's eyes scanned her room to look for any evidence of who the intruder may have been, she immediately thought of a certain changeling and hybrid. If this was another joke of theirs, she wasn't going to be merciful.

Her eyes suddenly widened as she gasped. No!

The chest, the chest that held the imprisoned Malchior, was open. A sense of dread came over Raven as she ran to the chest. It couldn't be, not again!

Raven could barely breathe when she spotted the torn lock lying on the floor. Let it not be true… Taking a deep, and slightly shaky, breath, the Titan peered into the open chest.

Only to have her fears confirmed.

The book that Malchior was locked away in was gone.

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**Author's Note:** Wwweee, finally another chapter! I'll try to work on this more, but having so much time with my video games may make that a bit harder. But I will try to work on this harder during school since its lightening up…a little. Especially since I hadn't been given twenty assignments in Biology that aren't due in three days. Anyway, see ya guys when I get another chapter up!


	4. Chapter 3: The Knights Of Darkness

**Author's Note: **Well, first semester is over for me. And before I start second semester in school, I decided to type up another chapter of this fic now that I got the chance. Well…hm…after all these days I don't know what to say now. Ah, who cares what I have to say? Hurry and read!

-

"Oh yeah!" cheered Cyborg, his mechanical fingers dancing across his controller. "You thought you could stay in first! But you're not in first now are yeah?"

Beastboy, a controller in his hands as well, was not sharing Cyborg's good mood. He had been first! But when they reached that sharp turn, it went downhill for Beastboy.

Like all racing game pros would know (Including yours truly), it would be a good idea to slow down while you're turning so that you don't go off the race track. Beastboy had used his brakes but Cyborg, strangely enough, had continued at full speed. He would've ended up having his car going off the track…if Beastboy's car hadn't been in the way.

Before a confused Beastboy could fully understand what was happening, Cyborg's car smashed into his. Unfortunately for Beastboy, video games also understand physics. The impact of the cars had kept Cyborg's car on the race track, but Beastboy's had went flying off.

"Catch up if you want to try!" Cyborg continued; a large smile on his face. "But we're already on the final lap!"

Despite the facts, Beastboy continued to stare intently on the TV screen, his green fingers pounding on his controller. There had to be a way to beat Cyborg, Beastboy just had to think of how he would. But Cyborg was already far ahead of him, and they were closing in on the finish line. The only way that Cyborg couldn't win would be-

The TV screen suddenly winked out.

-would be if the game turned off.

Cyborg's smile had disappeared from his face and he now stared in disbelief at the now black screen. Beastboy also stared, not believing his luck. There was a few seconds of silence until what Cyborg was seeing finally hit home.

"What?" Cyborg immediately whirled towards Beastboy, his human eye showing anger in them. "What did you do?"

Beastboy held up his hands in defense. "Dude! I didn't do anything!"

"Oh sure! You couldn't handle me winning could you? You turned off the game didn't you?"

"I didn't do it!"

"Well then what happened?"

"I don't know! I'll check!"

Mumbling to himself, Beastboy dropped his controller on the floor and too a glance at their gamestation. It was turned off, obviously, but as Beastboy looked at the TV, he blinked when he saw that that was off too. The culprit was the plug that was usually plugged into the wall that was lying on the floor. Curious, Beastboy knelt down and picked up the plug.

"Hey Cyborg, the plug fell out."

Cyborg didn't respond.

"Cyborg?" Blinking, Beastboy turned around.

And yelped when blackness suddenly enveloped him and lifted him roughly from the floor.

Beastboy quickly struggled, unsure if this was Cyborg's doing for losing his chance at beating him in the racing game. However, that logic proved false when he saw Cyborg also encased in blackness. And it was then that Beastboy figured the darkness that had suddenly trapped them both.

And the one controlling the darkness was standing on the floor in front of them, her eyes blazing as she stared at them.

"Where is it?" Raven asked in a soft, yet cold, voice.

Though Beastboy couldn't move, he was still able to speak. "Where's what?"

That answer didn't sit so well as the darkness shook both Beastboy and Cyborg around the room with ease, making both Titans suddenly dizzy by the end of it.

"The book," Raven said. "Where is it?"

This time, Cyborg spoke. "What book?"

"You know which book!" Raven snapped, her voice no longer soft. "Where is it?"

Beastboy couldn't help but wince when the darkness around him suddenly started to tighten around him. Despite that, however, Beastboy immediately started to think what Raven was talking about. Book, okay that was obviously what Raven wanted. But which one? She had plenty of books.

Sure, Beastboy and Cyborg had kind of taken her books once or twice in the past, but those books had already been given back to Raven, and they hadn't stolen anymore recently.

"This isn't funny!" Raven snapped again, her eyes continued to blaze with anger. "Where is it? You have no idea what would happen if you released Malchior again!"

Now that only made Beastboy more confused. Why would he and Cyborg want to steal the book that was a prison to Malchior? Sure, Beastboy had an urge to play around with the book and maybe have some "fun" with Malchior for what he had done to Raven, but the locked chest in Raven's room that held the book made it obvious that the Titan never wanted that book to see daylight again.

And why would Raven think that they would steal the book? Sure, they liked to play jokes and all, but they knew how serious it would be to even play around with that book for two reasons. One was that they could release Malchior and bring out a whole world of trouble. And two was that the topic of Malchior wasn't exactly something to be joked about around Raven. Beastboy had seen what had been going on in Raven's room by simply transforming into a fly and hanging on the wall of her room. And the betrayal had hurt Raven dearly.

"I'll only ask this one last time," Raven spoke again. "Where…is…the…book?"

Beastboy looked down at Raven…and blinked in surprise.

Anger was in both Raven's tone and eyes, but there was something else in there as well; fear. Raven's eyes were slightly widened and her voice was a little shaky.

"We didn't take the book," Cyborg replied before Beastboy could think of what to say. "Why would we want to anyway? We were there when Malchior was set free."

At first, Beastboy thought that Raven would decide to throw them around the room and ask again. Instead, the fury drained from her eyes so that fear and dread was all that was left.

"No…" she said quietly to herself. "No no no."

Beastboy was only able to stare, not realizing that Raven had already set him and Cyborg back on the floor. All he was able to do was stare at the female Titan.

Raven had always been emotionless, maybe that had been why that he had always thought of Raven of being strong, not allowing to show any weakness within her. But seeing her as she suddenly was now…

She was suddenly fragile. The emotions playing across her face, of fear, disbelief, dread, and even sadness, gave her the impression that she was just a normal girl that had discovered news that she had hoped never to hear. And, to surprise Beastboy even more, Raven suddenly fell to her knees, staring at the floor as it looked as if tears were about to fall from her eyes.

"No no no," was all that Raven was able to say over and over again.

-

Malchior approved of their living location, especially since he used to live in one of these many times before. The dark and dank cave almost felt exactly like the ones that he had used to dwell in as a dragon.

Even better; the cave was huge, huge enough for Malchior to move through easily if he really was a dragon. The cave was hidden within a mountain, the entrance having vines draped over it so that it wouldn't exactly be easy to find. Still, Malchior did kind of wish that there were tunnels that would allow him to move along through the mountain so that he wouldn't have to worry about staying in this one large and dark room.

He could fix that once he was freed. But until then, this cave would be enough.

"So what do you think?" questioned Krasz. The summoner had the book open, allowing Malchior to examine the cave.

"It will do," replied Malchior.

"Alright." Krasz looked down at Malchior. "So, when can we get started?"

If Malchior had a face within the pages of the book, it would've taken the form of a cold grin. The fool Krasz was. The summoner had no idea what he was dealing with. Despite only having met for about two hours, Malchior found himself liking the summoner. Maybe when he was freed, Malchior would allow Krasz to live…for a while.

"Patience," Malchior said. "You shall have the power that you desire…but we need time. You are not yet powerful enough to free me so that I can teach you the full extent of what I know. I will have to teach you, and that will take time. And that is something we need to get."

"Yes, that female spellcaster you've been talking about," murmured Krasz.

"She is young, but she is powerful. And with her friends, she will be a force that we will be unable to stop in our current situation. We need to distract her, delay her from her search for us."

"It shouldn't be hard. I shall summon more leatherwings or other monsters-"

"No, that won't be wise," interrupted Malchior. "To summon creatures over and over again, it'll make it easier for her to sense the spellwork."

Krasz thought it over, and then looked back at Malchior. "What do you propose?"

"We need help. Someone or something that may help you in cloaking your spellwork so that your summoning powers and whatever else we may be doing will go unnoticed."

"And who would that be?"

In reply, pages were suddenly turned, and Krasz couldn't help but jerk back at the sudden action, but he didn't drop the book. By the time he looked back, the last page of the book was what he stared at…a blank page.

But it wasn't blank for long. Words suddenly appeared on the page, as if being written by someone invisible. As more words appeared, it didn't take long for Krasz to realize that this was a spell.

"It is fortunate that you are a summoner," Malchior spoke again, despite his face not being in the pages. "The spell will be much easier to accomplish with your skills."

"And what spell is that?" questioned Krasz.

"A summoning spell. I wasn't the only servant of Rorek."

Truth be told, it wasn't Rorek's servant that Malchior was referring to. Instead, it was Malchior's servant. Though having been feared by many, Malchior had created servants to help spread his terror.

Each servant had been created from one of the essences that made darkness. Pain, rage, sadness, Malchior had created several servants that used one of these essences to bring suffering to their victims. They were powerful…and all had been sealed away by Rorek.

"Are they all as powerful as you?" asked Krasz.

"No," Malchior replied. "Each one is more powerful in the other. However, it's how they go about defeating the enemies of Rorek that will help us with the spellcaster. Even if they don't succeed, I have no doubts that they may bring something else to her if they can't bring death."

"And what would that be?"

"Suffering."

-

Beastboy had never seen Raven like this. Even after Malchior's betrayal, Raven hadn't looked as terrible as she was now. Beastboy wasn't really surprise. Being betrayed by someone you loved was one thing, Beastboy would know considering his relationship with Terra. But Terra wasn't Malchior. To have the betrayer come back to cause more pain, that was another thing.

While Raven had…cooled off…Cyborg and Beastboy had guided her to the couch where she took a seat. After that, Cyborg had disappeared into the kitchen to make some herbal tea while Beastboy sat next to Raven and just…stared really.

The female Titan once again had a look that made her seem fragile. Sitting slumped on the couch, Raven just stared down at the floor of the room as if she was no longer on Earth anymore. Beastboy was tempted to wave a hand in front of her eyes, but decided against it.

So all he was really able to do was just…stare.

Beastboy suddenly caught the scent of herbal tea and looked up to see Cyborg step into the room, a pot of herbal tea in one hand and a cup in the other. Filling the cup with the liquid, Cyborg handed it to Raven while he placed the pot on the table.

Raven accepted the cup but Beastboy couldn't help but suddenly feel disturbed as she drank from it. With that far off look in her eyes, it almost seemed like that it wasn't Raven that was drinking the herbal tea. Beastboy looked towards Cyborg and saw that his metallic friend was staring at him. It seemed that they both had similar concerns.

The changeling looked at Raven, and for a few more seconds just continued to stare at her and wonder if this was the same person that had been his friend for years now. After draining the cup, Raven just placed it on the table, but didn't fill it back up. Instead she just stared once again at the floor.

Beastboy hesitated, but soon his hand touched Raven's shoulder. To his dismay, she didn't even react to the touch. "Raven?"

She didn't seem to react to his voice either. But, after five seconds, she blinked out of her trance and looked at Beastboy. At the look she gave him, Beastboy couldn't help but jerk back slightly, releasing his hand from her shoulder.

True, Raven had always been a bit…creepy. But the way that she was looking at him…it was way beyond creepy. She was staring at him, yet she seemed to look through him, like he didn't exist. She just seemed…lifeless. In her eyes, he would always at least see a spark of life within her emotionless gaze. But now, she was practically a zombie.

Beastboy tried to think of something, anything that would allow him to make Raven feel better. He even rummaged through his abnormally large bag of jokes.

"We'll stop him," was all that Beastboy was able to see. Immediately he started scolding himself. _Oh that was brilliant!_

However, a flicker of life appeared within Raven's eyes. That caused a confident smile to appear on Beastboy's face and, to his please, the corners of his fellow Titan's lips twitched into a ghost of a smile.

"Yeah," Cyborg put in. "I mean come on, we've been busy fighting and doing what we always do, and what has Malchior been doing? Just brooding around in that book of his. We'll be ready for him this time!"

Raven turned towards Cyborg and this time a smile did grace her face, putting both Titans at ease. It may have been a small step in helping cheer up Raven, but it was enough of an accomplishment to give Cyborg and Beastboy a moment of relief.

"Thank you," Raven murmured to the both of them.

"Hey no sweat," replied Beastboy, grinning. "I couldn't think of a good joke so I had to say that."

"No, not just that," said Raven, even though another hint of a smile appeared on her face. "I just want to thank you guys for…everything." She looked at Cyborg and then Beastboy. "You two, Starfire, Robin…you've all been good friends."

"And you've been our good friend," Cyborg added.

"Yeah, and good friends help each other out," put in Beastboy.

Raven allowed another smile to appear as she lowered her head, but that of slight embarrassment. "What would I do without you two?"

"Well…" started Beastboy

"Don't answer that."

"So," said Cyborg, picking up his fallen controller, "feel like playing a video game with me and BB?"

"No thanks." Removing herself from the couch, Raven turned and made her way to the door. "I need to do some reading."

"Well we'll be here if you want to chat!" called Beastboy.

The doors opened, and Raven paused before looking back over her shoulder at Cyborg and Beastboy. She gave one last smile. "That would be nice…maybe another time."

Once the doors closed, Beastboy and Cyborg immediately turned to one another, each one with a look of victory on their face.

"We are so good," said Beastboy, picking up his own controller and leaning back on the couch.

"No need to tell me," replied Cyborg while he turned on the gamestation.

"Think we'll do a lot with Malchior?"

"Duh. The guy is locked away in a book, what trouble could he cause?"

-

When Krasz uttered the one final word of the spell, he was suddenly thrown back by the sudden power that suddenly radiated from the book. He landed on the cold stone floor with a thud, gasping as sweat poured down his face.

That had probably been the hardest summoning spell that he had ever performed. And whoever it was that Krasz was summoning…it must be someone powerful. The spell had been complex, true, but the amount of concentration he had used to control that sudden magnitude of power was staggering.

Krasz slowly pulled himself back up on shaky legs as his gaze landed upon the book that he had dropped.

The book was open, but instead of on the ground, it was hovering in the air. Krasz could only stare, the pages of the book started to glow. And then it suddenly burst into a flash of white light, causing Krasz to immediately shield his eyes.

"It is complete…" Krasz heard Malchior speak. When the white light dimmed, Krasz removed his arms from his face and stared forward to see what exactly he had summoned.

Or more like…who he had summoned.

Krasz had been expecting a beast of immense proportions, one with sharp teeth and claws. He hadn't been expecting the seventeen year old girl that stood before him.

"Hello Krasz," the girl greeted, smiling brightly while she nodded her head at him. "How may I serve you?"

Krasz was only able to stare at the girl. She had beauty, her shoulder length violet hair framing her tan face perfectly, and her smile gave her a look of innocence. Even her clothes were simply a black tunic and some dark blue pants.

But her eyes…those red eyes…gave off a sense of danger, of power that was dwindling within her. Krasz could even feel an aura of suffering and death around the girl, revealing that the girl was the opposite of innocence.

"Who are you?" was all that Krasz was able to ask.

The girl giggled, but even the giggle caused Krasz to tense, feeling a cold shiver go down his spine.

"I have been known by many names," informed the girl. "But you can simply call me Pain."

-

**Author's Note: **Hehe, first off, anyone who played Metal Gear Solid 3 may no where I got Pain from. Yes, I decided to have villains that were like the ones that you had to fight in Metal Gear Solid 3. But don't worry, they're not going to be exactly like the characters from Metal Gear Solid 3, as you can already see, I'm going to do some tweaking with them. Well, see ya folks in the next chapter!


End file.
